


Heartburn

by Escanor



Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Body Horror, Gen, No Plot/Plotless, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 16:33:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10391109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Escanor/pseuds/Escanor
Summary: Time has passed, and the Guardians have grown stronger, and so too have their powers. Unfortunately, this incurs a brutal price they must pay for the honour of protecting the Veil.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I still can't entirely believe I wrote something like this. W.I.T.C.H. is a fandom very close to my heart (no pun intended) and yet I start my first fic with body horror? honestly. 
> 
> Also, if you're sensitive to themes regarding anorexia, this might not be the best fic for you to read. It's not actually present, but could still possibly be triggering. Thank you :)

 

"D'you ever think about how much easier it would be if we were like them?" Elyon asked. Will looked up, surprised. It wasn't often the Queen of Meridian spoke solely to her.  
"Like who?"  
"You know, the gang. The rest of W.I.T.C.H. The ones who have power without price."  
"Oh...right. I guess it would be easier." Will resorted to the safest response, one that wouldn't alert the omnipresent Oracle to her true feelings. She could never safely admit that she despised the toll she paid to be the guardian of the Heart of Kandrakar, but some doglike sense of duty kept her in line. It had started off easy, the Heart magically appearing whenever she called for it, but as she got older, she discovered that there was in fact a tax on their powers that they had no choice but to pay. And Will had it worst of all.  
  
Doubts lay in the back of her mind as to the legitimacy of the Oracle’s claim that the price they paid grew with the strength of their powers, the explanation given when they started to notice the change. Will reckoned that Cornelia probably felt the same way, maybe Taranee too, but to discuss concerns that the higher ups of Kandrakar were withholding their powers and payments until they felt honour-bound to protect the universe was practically a death sentence. They were old enough to be properly, brutally reprimanded now, so they had no choice but to bear with the pain as they fought. Will was sure that, along with the payments, they had all developed mixed feelings towards their suspiciously quiet previous incarnations, though it was no surprise to her that Nerissa had failed to mention the particular horror that accompanied her power of quintessence. In fact, Nerissa had probably been denied access to her full power her whole life, and so would have been completely unaware of the ordeal. Despite her overwhelming sardonicism, pride still blossomed within Will at the thought.  
  
Though she had made sure her outward demeanour had not changed, her inner self had become exceptionally cynical lately. Mostly due the prices they paid individually for their new and improved powers, which had become evident and uncontrollable far too quickly. Hay Lin began to show symptoms of anaemia, her powers of air fuelled by and draining the oxygen in her blood. Similarly, Cornelia's muscles began to strain and weaken, her control of the earth partly powered by her own physical strength. Irma, unsurprisingly, started to suffer from dehydration, to the point where they would each bring along several bottles of water to a battle so she didn't pass out the moment they detransformed. Finally, Taranee's powers of fire began to use the energy within her body as fuel, eating away at her body fat until she was too weak to stand. While these problems were only in effect in their human forms, and lessened somewhat in periods where they transformed infrequently, it didn't make them hurt any less. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all. While the increase in their powers had been useful in some respects; Hay Lin's invisibility was always handy, as was Cornelia's telekinesis, the strength of Taranee's telepathy had grown faster than anticipated, and it took a while for her to learn to control it - and they all suffered for it. It was bad enough that the five of them had no choice but to share thoughts for weeks on end, but to feel the insecurities of the others - and their emotions, to an extent - was unbearable. Irma, in particular, was the root of most of those issues.

Beautiful though she was, Irma was never the most confident of people, her self-image lagging far behind her assured sense of humour. This, with the addition of long, exhausting days and the never-ending sleepless nights that clung stubbornly to group thought-sharing had resulted in Irma finally, loudly and offensively expressing her jealousy over Taranee’s price. Naturally hurt, Taranee had argued that weakness does not equal beauty, and the unhealthy model’s figure she now had was not in any way worth it, while the three remaining members of W.I.T.C.H. had no choice but to yield to the warring emotions that overwhelmed their minds.

During that time though, Irma's self-image and the physical weakness of her non-transformed team were in the back of Will's mind. Because all she heard, each day, every day, whether she thought it or her friends thought it, was one painful word, over and over and over again.  
  
Zombie.  
  
Her payment was somewhat different to the others, and she couldn't tell if they were jealous or disgusted. It didn't matter. All they ever said, all she ever heard, was _zombie_.  
  
How was she to control the merging of the Heart of Kandrakar with her own heart? How else was she supposed to transform them, other than to summon to Heart like she always did, only now her physical heart ripped itself out of her chest and glowed pink in her hand, still pumping. The Oracle had put it down to her being "pure of heart" enough to become one with the Heart of Kandrakar, but silently, Will called that out as bullshit. No one was entirely pure of heart, least of all her, and this had to be some scheme to ensure she remained their loyal dog. Frustratingly, she knew it worked.  
  
She had had to stay home for weeks when it first started, Taranee being unable to control the word _zombie_ echoing over and over in her head. It would have been in there anyway, but also hearing it in the clear voices of her friends had driven her mad for a while. They thought she was a monster. A zombie. Some thoughtless creature that rips out hearts and eats brains. She had often laughed about that, a cruel, sad laugh, about just what she would give to have her own brain eaten. At least then she wouldn't be able to hear them.  
  
She had wandered around the quiet parts of Heatherfield alone during that time, ripping her heart out again and again, and letting it sink back in, pink glow dying. It hurt. It really, really fucking hurt. One of her internal organs was being gouged out of her chest from the inside, sealing the wound as it tore through her skin, then tearing its way back inside her. And she felt the unrestrained laceration of every single nerve it shredded with acute agony. Eventually, she had realised her friends were looking for her. She could hear them calling her in her head, they were worried, she'd been gone for days just wandering. But Will was unable to reply. Unable to think. She just kept ripping her heart out and repeating "zombie, zombie, zombie,”.

She could see the irony of her actions, her doll like passivity despite her recoil from being called a zombie, not that she ever actively thought about it. Maybe her expression changed a little, but she only kept on thinking" zombie, zombie, zombie," and ripping her heart out of a bloodless wound.  
  
Looking back, Will knew she would have fallen past the brink of insanity had Elyon not saved her. The Heart of Meridian, it appeared, shared a common problem.  
  
"My powers come from my heart too," she had said, stroking Wills hair in an attempt to comfort her. "My emotions and energy and whatnot. Obviously I don't have my heart literally ripped out of my body, but I've been told that using the power of any Heart always comes with great pain, and what you feel is similar to what I feel.” She paused, gazing sadly at Will’s shaking hands. “It isn't their fault they don’t understand you. Our friends, that is. You can't expect them to understand something they can never experience, but know you're not alone, Will. I understand, I'm here for you."  
All Will had said was "But you're not a zombie." before breaking down and letting all of her emotions loose. Elyon had sat and listened and understood as promised, and had later returned Will safely home, a stronger and more contemptuous Will than the one that left to wander into insanity.  
  
An expectant expression on Queen Elyon's face alerted Will to the fact that she had just been asked a question, snapping her out of her miserable musings.  
"Eh, sorry?" She fumbled. Elyon laughed softly.  
"I was just saying that we're going to have to look out for Lillian. She's got all this still to come."  
"Oh yeah, of course. But what would Cornelia think if her heart were to...were to..."  
"I don't think it will. Lillian literally is the Heart of Earth, as I am literally, physically the Heart of Meridian. I think yours only comes out because it's been passed on. I'm the embodiment of the Heart so I can unleash its power at will, but your human body is in the way of its Kandrakar-ian powers, so it had to force its way out."  
"Why would it even merge in the first place them? It doesn't make any sense."  
"Yeah, I've really no idea on that one." Elyon admitted. "Sorry Will. I could have a look in the palace library..."  
"It's alright, don't worry about it. We don't want a repeat of that time Taranee got lost in there."  
That raised a laugh from the young queen. "You should come over more often, Will. We're always so short on catch-ups."  
"Yeah, my bad. Earth is just a busy place, always being invaded and everything."  
"Too bad you're the only one who can solve that problem."  
"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." Will shrugged. "Speaking of which..."  
"Ah, you're right. It's about time. I guess I could see you and the girls once this is over?"  
"That'll depend on how long Tibor spends fixing his beard before getting to the point."  
"Will! Shush, you can't say that!" Elyon giggled, giving her a friendly shove as they made their way to the doors of the conference hall. "Promise you'll come and see me again soon though, even if you can't make tonight."  
"Of course, thanks Elyon." Her friend beamed back at her before stepping through the grand entryway and into the hall.

 

 


End file.
